cccman wrote:
Good idea and definitely better than giving up something that will have no impact on you. Lent is supposed to be a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Those three components are supposed to go together. For some reason we only focus on the act of giving something up. Giving up something like candy, pop etc. is fine, but if that's all you do, you're missing the point. Lent is about conversion and preparation for Easter. If you give up something but don't do anything to help the needy, or try to improve your relationship with God, you're missing the intent of the Lenten season.
While I've rather enjoyed the back and forth about the great Russian literary figure (my favorite class in college) Dostoyevsky, this response above is the best one. The Lenten season is not about just giving up something mundane. It is about personal sacrifice, about taking on something significant, perhaps another person's plight or cause, about cleansing the body spiritually and physically, and about prayer, contemplation, and self-reflection. While I have not been able to "give up" coffee from my diet, I am eating almost a strictly raw diet, devoid of alcohol, sugar, processed foods, and replete with vegetables and fruits, as well as seeds and nuts.
I'm also praying and meditating, reading several books about Jesus for the first time in my life from several different points of view (one of them Deepak Chopra's), and attempting to repair relationships with many of the women in my life, all of who have been instrumental in shaping who I am. But prayer is not always asking for things; it's about quieting your mind and letting God get in a word or two for a change. It takes work.
As to whether God exists or not, I believe the language of math is the language of God, understood only because of the God-given ability of consciousness and perception, as well as the conscience, which innately understands morality. I suppose if you're a frog, you have no idea the laws of physics exist independently of you, but, as a human, you'll never be able to prove either way as they are an appendage of the human mind. Whatever you believe, Jesus was a pretty good dude and a fine example by which to live your life. But there are many.